Race Report W/E 7 April
Well, apologies to all those poker faced club members who did or did not remember it was April 1st last Monday. Sadly this report is more factually correct.
In a weekend where the real student (non-Olympian ringer) boat race didn’t even get a mention on live tv (or the news reports), I will try to do better service to our club members who were out racing – though of course its worth pointing out that Oxford completely owned the more technically demanding lightweight rowing races (men’s and women’s).
Compared to last weekend, we had a busy 2 days of racing. One trail race in the southwest; more relay running; two duathlons; a 25 mile time trial; three half marathons; one relay marathon; and, a middle distance triathlon. Sit back and enjoy.
1. Exmoor Endurance Life Coastal Trail Series:
Pete Doubleday, Walt Rothon, Cristian Marcus Ayuso, Amin Manzouri and Sandy Sehmi were all down in Devon on Saturday. The course looked both beautifully scenic, and painfully undulating. Pete was the only one of the club to take on the 10k event, and stormed to a 4th place overall and 2nd in his categoy. Walt, Cristian and Sandy all notched up great half marathon times. But Amin, decided he wanted more of a long day out, and completed the Marathon in a respectable 5hr 46min. Well done all!
2. National Road Relays (12 Stage races):
James Ellis and John Borton were back out racing for Thames Valley Harriers in what sounded like a good day of racing for the club.
3. Windsor Duathlon:
The second Duathlon of the year to take place up at Dorney Lake saw Holly Hardy compete in the standard distance (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run). She absolutely smashed it: 3rd in category, and 41st overall!!
4. 25mile TT:
The second 25 miler saw quite a few more no shows than last time – perhaps the long ride Richard H put on on Saturday was to blame, rather than a desire for Fair Weather? Early on Sunday morning, we had 6 of the club turn up for the great value course: Shaun Wood; Richard Harper; Martin Bruwer; Jonathan Montoya Saunders; Jane Osborne; and, Kerstin Mogull. Shaun and Richard came in 1st and 2nd for the club (4th and 5th overall) in just over an hour, very closely followed by Martin and Jonathan. Speedy times for all (no averages below 32kph over the 25 mile / 40k course). And a special mention for Kerstin, who completed the event in a cracking time despite her tri bars coming loose part way round!! That will definitely wake you up!
5. Wimbledon Common Half Marathon:
A small group of niche race warriors turned up for this half marathon, organised by RunThrough Events, on Sunday morning: Luke and Janice Hardman; Sapna Sekhri; and, Alberto Lazaro. Strong finishing times by all (it’s not a flat course by any stretch of the imagination), with Luke and Alberto both coming in sub-1:40.
6. Bournemouth Bay Half Marathon:
Further south, Ruth Macdonald was taking on this half along the coast at Bournemouth. A well paced race saw her finish in a 2hr 10min time.
7. Challenge Salou:
Our first triathlon for a little while, Challenge Salou takes place not far from Barcelona, in a setting that apparently boasts some spectacular beaches. It’s a middle distance race (1.9k swim, 90k bike, 21k run). New member Julen Diez, racing for his other club, took this on, recording a swift time of 4hr7min and placing 26th in the overall field. Fantastic racing!
8. Manchester Marathon:
Sadly it seems that Jamie McCanny didn’t finish – hoping all is well, and it’s not too serious! Elsewhere in the field, Haukur Heimisson and Katie Devlin were out racing the relay (11 + 15 miles). Clearly they were doing this somewhat clandestinely as their names don’t seem to appear in the relay results, but Strava suggests they made it swiftly through the race in one piece.
In a late development… it turns out Sian Morgan was racing, and come nicely under 3hr 45min – well done (hopefully!) And, Haukur has been found: he ran as part of a 4 man KPMG team, completing the distance (albeit in relay chunks) in just under 3 hours.
9. Berlin Half Marathon:
Our own mythical Emma Guthrie was out in Berlin on Sunday, running the half marathon for Adidas City Runners. The course is an element of the September Marathon route – so presumably a good flat speedy one. Emma stormed through with a strong sub 2hr time! And, Strava suggested Lucy Ohrnial may have been randomly in Berlin at the same time running a 10k. No matching race was found, so might this have been a case of energetic supporting?
10. Bedford Autodrome Duathlon:
Finally, Jon Green was racing in the Duathlon championships at Bedford Autodrome on Sunday. This was a standard distance event (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run), and he produced a swift performance – coming 5th in his category and 16th overall. The 56 minute bike leg gives some indication of how fast this was!
And that’s it for this weekend.
Do let me know if you’ve been left out etc, or are struggling with the race calendar. I am and will be on fixtures@fulontri.com